“There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.”
– Federico Fellini
I first started work on the series of illustrations for “Trackless Paths” around mid-October 2011; but rather than saying that is when the project began, it would be more accurate to say that is when everything that led to it converged . Our lives are single journeys along many simultaneous paths that sometimes meet to form wider, more defined roads, that may or may not branch off again somewhere down the line.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is likely that “Trackless Paths” is inevitable. For the longest time, I had kept my different passions and interests separate. Drawing is my livelihood; nature my refuge, culture and history my addiction, and spirituality a way to make sense of it all. Some of these passions – especially spirituality – I guard very closely. In an age where the marketplace is crowded with religious leaders who preach exclusivity and intolerance on one end, and new-age gurus who tells you that you will live a life free from suffering as long as you think it, it is difficult to know when you do speak on the matter if you are just merely adding to the noise – especially if you are acutely aware of your own moral shortcomings.
Regardless, I believe that we have each been endowed with unique gifts for a greater purpose. Mine has always been in telling stories in a visual way. I have no words of wisdoms that I can call my own to share with anyone (although I can recommend that silence is often a very good way of finding the answers that are already in you). But what I can do is to share the collective wisdom that had worked for me, while lending my own voice to it – in the form of illustrations.
And yet we have only just arrived… at the beginning. Because while I had walked some distance with my animal friends, my journey with you down the Trackless Paths has only just begun. Right here, right now.
Keep your eyes open, and try to keep up.
But if all else fails, just take Chuang Tzu’s advice:
“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free.”
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Trackless Paths 